1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of firearms training and more specifically relates to a training system using a simulated non-lethal electric weapon.
2. Related Art
Numerous types of devices are designed to apply a non-lethal electrical shock or impulse to humans and animals. These devices range from medical devices, requiring pre-market notification to or pre-market approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration, to non-lethal weapons that emit an electrical pulse or charge, intended primarily for use by law enforcement personnel, military personnel and certain self-defense applications. In general, these non-lethal weapons are used to subdue and capture criminals or other dangerous people or animals. Representative designs for various type of non-lethal weapons are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,803,463, 4,688,140, and 6,636,412.
As with all weapon systems and platforms, training is an important part of preparing an operator to be skilled in the deployment and use of non-lethal weapons. There are a number of companies that market modified versions of the commercially available non-lethal weapons, suitable for a training environment. As with simulated lethal weapons, lasers are typically used to track/record muzzle or barrel movement, trigger pull, etc.
In general, the presently available simulated non-lethal weapons require extensive modification of the commercially available model. These modifications can be quite expensive and the modification may negatively impact how well the simulated non-lethal weapons mimics the real-world version of the non-lethal weapon. Further, once modified for training purposes, the modified weapon is not longer capable of being used in a real-world situation. It would be desirable to provide one or more approaches to simulating non-lethal weapons that would more closely mimic the operational aspects of commercially available models without the necessity of impairing or eliminating the use of the weapon in a real-world application. Accordingly, without improvements to the current equipment and methods used for simulating non-lethal weapons in a training environment, the training benefit offered to trainees and their sponsoring organizations will continue to be sub-optimal.